I AM HAVING WIRING ISSUES AND HOPE IT'S A EASY FIX

1987 Ford F-150 • 19,000 miles

I have a 1987 ford f150 and when I'm driving my gauges start to act up saying my oil pursue and water temp are through the roof and makes all my lights go dim, and then if I hit a bump just rite my lig. Hts brighten back up and my gauges start to work again. A friend tried to tell me it was a ground issue with my light switch but I can't find anything. And when the gauges are not working it seems like the truck is over fueling. Thanks for any help I get.

THE ALTERNATOR MAY BE AN EZ CHECK--TAKE IT TO A POPULAR PARTS STORE HAVE IT TESTED (I MEAN LEAVE IT ON THE TRUCK!), USUALLY IT'S FREE

I DO LIKE YOUR RIMS TOO, HOW MUCH DID THEY SET YOU BACK?

THE 1ST THING I'D DO TO TEST THE GROUNDS (WITHOUT GETTING INVOLVED [YET]) WOULD BE TO HAVE SOMEONE FAMILIAR WITH THE SYMPTOMS SIT IN THE TRUCK WHILE IT RUNSTHE OTHER START MOVING/ SHAKING THE WIRES EVERYWHERE--UNDER THE HOOD AND UNDER THE DASH.

WATCH OUT FOR THOSE PESKY MOVING PARTS!

THAT MAY GET YOU IN THE GENERAL AREA OF THE PROBLEM. IF YOUR PARTNER IS PAYING ATTENTION!

LET'S TRY THE OTHER STUFF 1ST. THEN. BEFORE YOU GO CRAZY WITH THE IGNITION SWITCH, I MAY BE ABLE TO TELL YOU HOW TO TEMPORARILY BY-PASS "RUN" ON THE IGNITION SWITCH. THIS WOULD GIVE YOU CONSTANT POWER TO THE COIL, IF IT STILL ACTS UP---THE IGNITION SWITCH WOULD MOST LIKELY BE RULED OUT OF THE EQUATION.

I CAN HELP WITH IT'S REMOVAL ALSO, I HAVE SOME HOMEMADE PICS IF IT COMES DOWN TO THAT

IF IT'S STILL A POSSIBLE GROUND, AND THE SHAKING OF WIRES DID NOT DISCOVER IT. TRACING IT DOWN MAY BE THE MOST DIFFICULT THING YOU DO!

I will try thoes ideas when I have light out to see, as for my wheels I am not sure how much they were, had a family member pass at the begining of the year that left me and my girlfriend the truck, it had sat for two plus years only bein ran for a couple hours a month so it took alot to get her cleand up but it will be worth it, so with this problem would it cause the truck to consume more gas? When everything is working I get about 20mpg when it's not working I get about 8 if I'm lucky and it's a 302 with a 4 speed manual

DOES YOUR CHECK ENGINE LIGHT WORK WHEN YOU CRANK UP. VERIFYING THAT IT WORKS?

IS IT ON NOW?

IF IT'S ON, OR DOES NOT WORK--YOU MAY HAVE CODES

GET IT CODED----YOU MAY HAVE A SENSOR NOT WORKING

WE GOT TWO "LOOPS"---"OPEN" AND "CLOSED"

OPEN MEANS THE SENSORS ARE GIVING THE COMPUTER "REAL TIME" INFO, EXAMPLE: O2 SENSOR IS TELLING THE COMPUTER THE OXYGEN CONTENT IN THE EXHAUST SO IT CAN ADJUST THE INJECTORS TO GET THE MOST EFFICIENT "BURN" POSSIBLE

BEING THAT IT TAKES A BIT FOR THE O2 TO WARM UP TO "TRANSMIT" INFO. HOW DOES THE ENGINE RUN?

THE ENGINE RUNS "CLOSED LOOP"---WHICH MEANS THE COMPUTER HAS "PRESET" VALUES PROGRAMMED INTO IT--IT RUNS OFF OF THEM, UNTIL ALL SENSORS COME ON-LINE. CLOSED LOOP SORTA MEANS, "FED FALSE INFO", THAT WILL MAKE THE ENGINE RUN---THIS "LOOP" IS NOT EFFICIENT, USUALLY YOU WILL NOTICE IT RUNS RICH--MPG GOES DOWN!

THIS IS NOT ONLY TRUE FOR THE O2 SENSORS, BUT OTHER SENSORS NOT WORKING WILL CAUSE THIS (STAYING IN CLOSED LOOP)---CLOSED LOOP IS BASICALLY "DEFAULT"

I'M NOT GREAT ON NEWER VEHICLES, IMMA JEEP CJ KINDA GUY '40-'86 IS WHAT I KNOW THE BEST. BEFORE COMPUTERS!

IF I GET IN OVER MY HEAD, I WILL GRAB ANOTHER EXPERT TO COME IN AND HELP OUT. YOUR RIG IS PROBABLY "OBD I". AN AUTO PARTS STORE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO EXTRACT YOUR CODES. WON'T HURT TO ASK, OR ASK WHO CAN DO IT. WRITE YOUR CODES DOWN, POST 'EM FOR US, I'VE SEEN DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS, FOR A CODE, YOU MAY NOT GET THE FULL STORY FROM WHO EVER CODES IT (THEN AGAIN, THEY COULD BE DEAD ON)